Cougars Recuperate WSU Overcomes Shaky Shooting To Victimize Texas A&M; 75-66

Maybe the hardest part to believe is the Washington State Cougars felt real good despite looking real bad.

The Cougars rebounded from a first half of just six baskets and 29 points to race past Texas A&M 75-66 Tuesday night at the Spokane Arena.

“The obvious thing is we felt we were in pretty good shape at halftime because we didn’t shoot the ball,” Cougar coach Kevin Eastman said of the 38-29 deficit. “We had thought there were nine wide-open cracks, a defender really wasn’t near the shooter, we just missed.”

And miss the Cougs did, making just 6 of 26 shots (23 percent), including an 0-of-8 performance from behind the 3-point line. Only a 10-point edge from the foul line - WSU was 17 of 23, A&M 7 of 16 - kept the Cougars in the game.

The game, played before a meager crowd estimated at about 1,200, was the final tuneup before the Pacific-10 season for the Cougars, 7-4. The Aggies go into the Big 12 season at 6-4.

The faithful few saw a completely different second half. The Cougars shot 60 percent (12-20), including 4 of 9 3-pointers. Only a dip in free throw shooting, 18 of 29, kept the game from being a blowout.

“We just felt it was a winnable game for us,” Eastman said. “Usually in some nine-point differentials you don’t feel that way. We were running offense real well, we were defending real well, so … . We just felt they were open shots, we keep stats on that, there’s no sense turning them down.”

The Cougars caught the Aggies quickly, going ahead 45-44 on a Carlos Daniel. It was his hoop a minute later on a feed from Rodrigo de la Fuente, that put them up for good, 48-46 with 11:29 to play.

Then WSU hit three straight 3s, Chris Crosby from the right wing and Steve Slotemaker and Crosby from the left, making it 57-46 with 7:55 to go.

The Cougars were up 66-57 with 4:12 to play when the A&M press caused some problems. Three straight turnovers allowed the Aggies to tie the game with 2:58 left.

Then the Cougars pushed the ball down quickly, Daniel got into the lane and converted a three-point play with 2:32 to go. That made it 69-66 and the Aggies never scored again.

A&M coach Tony Barone left without comment after his team tied the school record with 37 fouls. The Cougars were 35 of 52 from the foul line to an 11-of-24 performance for the Aggies.

In his radio interview, Barone didn’t complain about fouls, pointing to his team’s style of play, and said Daniel’s three-point play was the key after the quick nine-point rally in a minute tied the game.

Daniel finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, both game highs after having just six points and four rebounds at the half.

Kojo Mensah-Bonsu added 18 points and six rebounds off the bench.

“I definitely feel like I bring high intensity, some life to inspire the guys,” said Mensha-Bonsu, a native of England and transfer from Champlain College in Vermont. “We knew if we stayed close we had a chance. We came into it with confidence.”

In fact, Eastman was especially pleased with his bench.

Besides Mensah-Bonsu and the key 3 from Slotemaker, Will Hutchens had four points and several strong defensive plays.

“Will did a wonderful job,” Eastman said. “We felt we had to make a change in our substitution pattern. He played with confidence … there was no fear in his eyes facing their press.”

The Aggies were led by Shanne Jones with 13 points, but he fouled out, playing just 14 minutes. Four other Aggies had four fouls.

The Cougars open Pac-10 play next Monday in Seattle against the University of Washington.

Washington St. 75, Texas A&M 66

TEXAS A&M (6-4) - Davis 3-6 2-2 8, Jones 5-10 3-6 13, Houston 3-9 4-7 10, Brown 2-8 0-1 5, Clayton 3-8 1-2 9, Barone 0-1 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-3 0-0 0, Jack 4-5 0-0 8, Richards 5-7 1-1 11, Thompson 1-5 0-5 2. Totals 26-62 11-24 66.

WASHINGTON STATE (7-4) - de la Fuente 1-4 8-8 10, Daniel 6-14 9-15 21, Nelson 1-1 0-0 2, Pengelly 1-6 2-5 5, Crosby 3-9 4-6 12, Hutchens 1-3 2-2 4, Kazadi 0-0 0-1 0, Mensah-Bonsu 4-6 10-15 18, Moffett 0-0 0-0 0, Slotemaker 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 18-46 35-52 75.

Halftime - Texas A&M 38, Washington State 29. 3-point goals - Texas A&M 3-16 (Clayton 2-7, Brown 1-4, Davis 0-1, Jones 0-1, Houston 0-1, Schmidt 0-2), Washington State 4-17 (Crosby 3-7, Slotemaker 1-1, Pengelly 1-5, de la Fuente 0-2, Hutchens 0-2). Fouled out - Jones, Jack, Richards, Nelson. Rebounds - Texas A&M 40 (Jack 10), Washington State 40 (Daniel 13). Assists - Texas A&M 12 (Houston 5), Washington State 11 (Pengelly 7). Total fouls - Texas A&M 37, Washington State 21. Technicals - Schmidt, Slotemaker. A - NA.

, DataTimes